A cat owner has been fined €30 for having failed to take the necessary precautions to stop her seven pets from causing an inconvenience to neighbours.

Denise Falzon was prosecuted following complaints by a neighbouring couple and several visits by sanitary inspectors.  

She was initially cleared by a Magistrates’ Court, prompting an appeal by the prosecution, arguing that the acquittal had been based on a wrong interpretation of the law.

During the appeal proceedings, Madam Justice Edwina Grima observed that the accused, who spent long hours away at her teaching job, used to allow her seven felines to roam about her Attard apartment, placing their litter out on the veranda, thereby creating an inconvenience to the owners of the flat below.

The flat owners, a British couple who came to Malta frequently, complained of the “unbearable stench” emanating from the accused’s veranda, overlooking their back yard.

The cats were subsequently relocated to the bathroom but this measure apparently brought little relief since the bathroom window was directly above the British couple's bedroom.

The couple claimed they were suffering both physically as well as psychologically on account of the fact that their neighbour persisted in keeping her pets in such circumstances. They also argued that she was breaching her contract of purchase which prohibited the keeping of pets in the apartment.

The appeals court ruled that the prosecution had not sufficiently proven that the cat owner had purposely intended to harass her neighbours. Pending proceedings, the woman had even taken up residence elsewhere, the court observed.

While confirming the acquittal in respect of the harassment charge, the court partly upheld the appeal, declaring itself “morally convinced” that the accused had caused an annoyance to her neighbours, a contraventional breach which landed her with a €30 fine.

Lawyer Jason Grima appeared parte civile.